Chapter 186 - 171: Let’s Go Snatch the Bride Together

Chapter 186: Chapter 171: Let’s Go Snatch the Bride Together

Zhou Jianming continued.

"You’re short on guys for the groomsmen crew?"

Chen Yuan caught on immediately and turned to Zhou Lin with a grin.

The whole "stealing the bride" thing was just how people joked about it — the groomsmen had to outmaneuver the bridesmaids and the bride’s friends, using every trick in the book to get the bride out the door.

So in casual conversation, everyone called it stealing the bride.

"We’re one guy short, and after thinking it through, you’re honestly the only one who fits. What do you say — come help me steal my bride?"

Zhou Lin tilted his chin toward Chen Yuan with a laugh.

"Yuan, just think about your schedule. If you can’t get away, don’t force it — we’ll figure something out."

Zhou Jianming added.

He knew how busy Chen Yuan was. With Old Pond now open, the two ponds were pulling in over three hundred visitors a day, and the whole family was on their feet from morning to night.

Chen Yuan was the one holding everything together, so it would be perfectly understandable if he couldn’t swing it.

Everyone looked at Chen Yuan — Chen Jun and Chen Li included. They both wanted to help, but neither was about to make the call for him.

"A wedding’s a big deal. Dad, I’ll leave the small pond to you."

Chen Yuan didn’t hesitate for a second. He agreed on the spot and looked over at Chen Jun.

"Leave it to me — it’s not like I haven’t handled it before."

Chen Jun smiled and lit a cigarette.

It was good that Chen Yuan agreed. After all, Zhou Jianming had come all the way over with Zhou Lin in tow, and a wedding wasn’t exactly something you could shrug off — if you could help, you helped.

Chen Jun knew the small pond like the back of his hand. He’d done the whole dawn-to-dusk grind before. Nothing would go wrong.

"I’ll come with you."

Chen Kingdom tapped his cigarette and said.

Whether it was when the small pond first launched night fishing or when Old Pond opened, Chen Kingdom had never been the one handling the end-of-session wrap-up. But if they were truly short-handed, he’d be there.

"The small pond’s got that bickering couple."

Chen Jun waved him off. They were only one person down — it wasn’t like they were understaffed.

"Sis, keep an eye on Old Pond for me. The main thing is coordinating the pickups and drop-offs."

Chen Yuan turned to Chen Li to sort out the Old Pond arrangements.

The moment Zhou Jianming had brought it up, Chen Yuan had already made up his mind.

If they’d had any other option, Zhou Jianming and Zhou Lin wouldn’t have come to him. Everyone in the village knew how hectic the fishing pond was. If they’d taken the trouble to ask, he had to come through.

It wasn’t like it was impossible to manage.

Besides, he and Zhou Lin got along well.

"No problem on my end."

Chen Li kept it short.

She hadn’t been back long, but this kind of thing was nothing for her. She’d been the one handling dispatch for the past couple of days anyway, especially today.

Chen Yuan had been out all day, and every mid-session swap and exit had been her call — smooth and orderly, without a single hitch.

"One more thing — parking. Brother Lin’s wedding is going to bring a lot of friends and family, and even though there’s plenty of open space in the village, it’s better to plan ahead, otherwise things will get messy."

The last thing they needed was fishing pond customers and wedding guests all competing for the same spots and going around in circles.

"That’s all sorted. I’ve already checked out where your guests park — we’ll designate a different area for the wedding. And since the fishing pond opens early, there shouldn’t be any overlap."

Zhou Jianming had clearly already thought all of this through.

Hearing that, Chen Yuan felt at ease.

They went over a few more details, and then Zhou Jianming and Zhou Lin headed out. On their way, they left behind several packs of cigarettes and thanked everyone repeatedly.

Chen Li was about to hop on her three-wheeler to go check on the bridal room setup, but Chen Yuan called her back — he wanted to talk about the children’s amusement park first, and they’d head over together afterward.

The old man and the others had already scattered off to take care of their own things.

"Well, look at you — actually went and did market research on children’s amusement parks?"

Chen Li was a little surprised.

"What, you think I was out there goofing around?"

Chen Yuan rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright — so how’s the market looking?"

Chen Li had only been joking, of course. She quickly got down to business and they started talking through the children’s amusement park market.

The siblings talked for a long time — covering everything from the project concept to pricing to how to draw in customers — and eventually made their way over to Zhou Jianming’s place while still deep in conversation.

They kept talking the whole time, all while helping Zhou Lin decorate the bridal room.

Zhou Lin chimed in with plenty of suggestions along the way, and most usefully, mentioned that his eldest sister-in-law ran a children’s amusement park — Chen Yuan could pick her brain about it when they went to fetch the bride.

It was past ten by the time they left Zhou Lin’s place.

Chen Yuan pulled out his phone and called Wang Tao.

Then he hopped onto his three-wheeler and called out to his sister,

"Wang Tao and I are going to check out the square. You want to come?"

He’d promised to help set up the tent, so that had to get done.

"You two go ahead. I’m going to check on the construction, then I’ll be over at Old Pond."

Chen Li waved him off and rode her three-wheeler toward Old Pond.

Like Wang Tao, she was eager to push the construction forward as fast as possible — get the hot spring water park and the indoor children’s amusement park built and open before the last of summer slipped away.

Chen Yuan rode his three-wheeler to the village square.

"Square" was generous — it was really just a couple of acres of flattened ground paved over with concrete. Back in the day, the village held its meetings here, and on movie nights the place would be absolutely packed.

He could still remember kids climbing all over the big trees on the sides to get a better view.

That kind of lively bustle was long gone. These days people mostly used it to dry grain.

"Boss Chen~"

Wang Tao came rolling up on his three-wheeler not long after.

"Come take a look at this space. There’s a wedding here the day after tomorrow — see if you can rig up some kind of shade canopy."

Chen Yuan waved Wang Tao over, lit a cigarette, and pointed at the open ground in front of them.

"Holy hell, holding a wedding out here in this heat? Are they out of their minds?"

Wang Tao took the cigarette and shook his head.

It was the dead of summer — peak dog days — and at noon the temperature outside hit at least forty or fifty degrees. Packing a crowd in here for a wedding banquet was practically asking for people to drop from heatstroke.

"That’s exactly why I need you to put up a canopy. Worst case, I’ll order a bunch of patio umbrellas."

Chen Yuan shot Wang Tao a look, then tucked the cigarette between his lips and lit it.

"How big are we talking?"

Wang Tao shrugged, took a long drag, and exhaled a slow stream of smoke.

"Around twenty to thirty tables."

Chen Yuan had already asked Zhou Jianming.

Since it was being held in the village, there’d be a lot of locals, plus the bride’s relatives — probably around thirty tables all in. If they’d gone with a city venue, fewer villagers would have shown up and it could have been trimmed by a third or so.

"Easy. Go ahead and place the order through the system, Boss Chen — I’ll take care of the canopy."

A job this small barely even counted as a project.

"Done. I’ll put in the order now. Deliver it tomorrow — the wedding company will be coming to set up the ceremony stage, so just coordinate with them and get the canopy up at the same time."

Chen Yuan pulled up the system on the spot and placed the order, then asked Wang Tao if he needed anything while he was at it.

"Not right now."

Wang Tao thought for a moment and shook his head.

Chen Yuan wasn’t surprised.

The guy had just burned through a million points — that’d keep him busy for days.

After chatting with Wang Tao for a bit, Chen Yuan said his goodbyes and headed home. He walked in to find his dad sitting in the courtyard sorting vegetables. His mom was nowhere to be seen.

She’d probably gone to bed — it was nearly eleven, after all.

"Still at it, huh."

Chen Yuan went over and took a cigarette.

"You’ve got to go pick up the bride tomorrow, Xu Juan’s going over to cook, and your aunt will head over to help as soon as she’s free — that’s the fishing pond suddenly short a few people. Better prep whatever we can ahead of time. Nothing much else going on right now anyway."

Chen Jun shook his head and didn’t take the cigarette — his hands were full.

"You already talked to Aunt Juan about it?"

Chen Yuan pulled over a small stool and settled in under the light to help peel garlic.

"All sorted. She’ll head over to help around noon tomorrow."

"Noon already?"

Chen Yuan was a little taken aback.

"The drivers, the groomsmen, the videographer following the car — they all need lunch. There’s a lot of people involved. Did you think getting married was simple?"

Chen Jun let out a quiet laugh.

On the surface, getting married looked like the groom just going to pick up his wife so they could eat and sleep together — but in reality there was a mountain of things to handle. Way more hectic than running the fishing pond.

"Getting married is way too much trouble."

Chen Yuan shook his head.

"Trouble or not, you still have to do it. What, you’re going to skip it just because it’s a hassle?"

Chen Jun shot Chen Yuan a look. That kind of thinking was dangerous.

"When I get married, I’m not doing any of this. Just the two of us, a travel wedding — go see some of the country’s beautiful scenery. How romantic is that."

Chen Yuan said with a grin.

"How about you find yourself a girlfriend first. You haven’t even gotten that far, and you’re already planning travel weddings."

Chen Jun shook his head, at a loss for words.

"That’ll happen when it happens. Oh, by the way Dad, if the fishing pond gets too swamped, just get Wang Tao to pitch in — he’s practically part of the operation anyway."

Chen Yuan quickly changed the subject. If they kept going, it was going to circle back to him.

"I know. Don’t worry about the fishing pond."

Chen Jun nodded.

Father and son sat there sorting vegetables and peeling garlic, chatting away.

When the time felt right, Chen Yuan called out a goodbye and headed over to Old Pond, while Chen Jun made his way to the small pond to wrap up the night session.